Mark L Mcpherran
Biographic Data
| ID | 1032352 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark L Mcpherran |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark L |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcpherran |
| SIGNATURE | MCPHERRAN M L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Maine at Farmington |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Plato’s Rivalry with Medicine
Virtue, Luck, and Choice at the End of the Republic
Music all pow'rful
In this chapter, the author argues for the centrality of music in Plato's conception of education in the Republic. It explores some of the key passages in Book 3 where Socrates explains the importance of music for fostering our capacity for philosophy and what sort of music is appropriate for training the city's guards and how musical mimesis works. The chapter considers why it is that poetry looms much larger than music in most accounts of the d…
Plato's divided soul
Plato's reason for introducing a tripartite soul into the Republic pertains to the overarching goals of that work: Plato wishes to establish the nature of justice and thereby to show why an individual might wish to be just rather than unjust. In saying that the soul had appeared to the interlocutors of the Republic to be composite, Plato is evidently alluding to the argument for the tripartition of the soul in Book 4 of the Republic. Plato's argu…
Degenerate regimes in Plato's Republic
This chapter concerns the negative end of the political argument of the Republic. According to the political philosophy presented in the Republic and the Laws, one's political standard ultimately determines the practical choices one makes about political institutions and laws. The political turmoil of the late fifth and early fourth centuries clearly lies in the background of Plato's Republic. The chapter overviews the system of degenerate regime…
Ethics and politics in Socrates' defense of justice
In the Republic, Socrates argues that justice ought to be valued both for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences. Scholars divide over the importance of politics in the Republic. This chapter argues that the account of the ideal city in Socrates' defense of justice plays the role of connecting justice as a structural condition of the soul and just behavior. It raises a worry that the defense is question-begging and show why it is not. …
Plato's 'Republic'
Plato's Republic has proven to be of astounding influence and importance. Justly celebrated as Plato's central text, it brings together all of his prior works, unifying them into a comprehensive vision that is at once theological, philosophical, political and moral. The essays in this volume provide a picture of the most interesting aspects of the Republic, and address questions that continue to puzzle and provoke, such as: Does Plato succeed in …
Socratic Religion
Socrates is acknowledged to have been a moral philosopher of the first order: the founder of virtue ethics and the chief exponent of the Socratic Method (the elenctic method of question-and-answer cross-examination). It is, however, also common to underplay the idea that he was very much a man of his own time in respect of the supernatural, assuming in his speech and thought the existence of gods vastly superior to ourselves in power and wisdom, …
Platonic Religion
Socratic Epagōgē and Socratic Induction
Aristotle holds that it was Socrates who first made frequent, systematic use of epagôgç in his elenctic investigations of various definitions of the virtues (Meta. 1078b7–32). Plato and Xenophon also target epagôgç as an innovative, distinguishing mark of Socratic methodology when they have Socrates' interlocutors complain that Socrates prattles on far too much about "his favorite topic" (Mem. 1.2.37)—blacksmiths, cobblers, cooks, physicians, and…
The Gods and Piety of Plato's Republic
Socrates, Crito, and their Debt to Asclepius
Does Piety Pay? Socrates and Plato on Prayer and Sacrifice
Plato’s Apology offers a perennial challenge to its readers, prodding them to ask inter alia whether its Socrates is really guilty of the formal charge of impiety by failing to “recognize” the gods of Athens (Ap. 24b8-c1). If one turns to Xenophon for assistance in answering this question, however, the response will be an unequivocal “not guilty,” for as his portrait has it: “[Socrates] never said or did anything impious (asebes), and his speech …
An Argument 'Too Strange'
The Religion of Socrates
The Religion of Socrates
Knowing the Theaetetus
The brief prologue of the Theaetetus begins with the end of a search, with Terpsion having tracked down Euclides in the streets of Megara, fresh from an encounter with Theaetetus, now homeward bound to Athens and his death. Euclides recounts that this encounter has reminded him of the long-dead Socrates and his ability to discern the talents of others in this case, Theaetetus himself.' He recalls in particular Socrates' retelling of a remarkable …
Socrates in the Apology
book is an excellent companion to Plato's Apology and a valuable discussion of many of the main issues that arise in the early dialogues. Reeve is an extremely careful reader of texts, and his familiarity with the legal and cultural background of Socrates' trial allows him to correct many common misunderstandings of that event. In addition, he integrates his reading of the apology with a sophisticated discussion of Socrates' philosophy. The writi…
Socratic Reason and Socratic Revelation
Socratic Reason and Socratic Revelation MARK L. MCPHERRAN IN MANYLONGSTANDINGand influential interpretations of his views, Socrates is portrayed as a figure of our own Enlightenment: a consummate intellectualist, whose "paradoxical" view that "virtue is knowledge" grounds a moral theory that takes discursive rationality as our only trustworthy guide in life. This version of Socrates--as opposed to what I consider the more accurate one-has him con…
Pyrrhonism's arguments against value
Skeptical Homeopathy and Self-refutation
There are two time-honored cornerstones of anti-skeptical argumentation: (1) the charge that the skeptic cannot consistently 'live his skepticism' (hereafter, the 'WnQpata argument'), and (2) the charge that the claims and argumentative practices of the skeptic involve him in 'self-refutation'. ' One of the few brands of skepticism in the history of philosophy to deny the &nQatia argument but accept and even embrace the charge of selfrefutation i…
Plato’s Reply to the 'Worst Difficulty’ Argument of the Parmenides
Article Plato’s Reply to the 'Worst Difficulty’ Argument of the Parmenides: Sophist 248a — 249d was published on January 1, 1986 in the journal Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (volume 68, issue 3).
Socrates and the Duty to Philosophize
Socratic Piety In The Euthyphro
Socratic Piety In The Euthyphro MARK L. McPHERRAN A PERSISTENT AND MUCH DEBATED issue in the interpretation of the Euthyphro is whether the dialogue is merely a peirastic inquiry or a source of positive Socratic doctrine on the nature of piety.' The majority of commentors favor the latter view and have produced various reconstructions of the positive Socratic doctrine of piety they find implicit in the text following the "aporetic interlude" (Eu.…
Matthen on Castaneda and Plato's Treatment of Relational Statements in the Phaedo
In a recent discussion note, Mohan Matthen has offered a sketch of what he calls 'the beginnings of an adequate interpretation of Plato's treatment of the tall and the equal in the Phaedo. In doing so, Matthen agrees with Hector-Neri Castatteda that Plato had a theory of relational statements, but argues that the theory of relations Castafleda has attributed to Plato is an incorrect interpretation.2 In what follows, I will argue that Matthen's at…
Skeptical Homeopathy and Self-refutation
There are two time-honored cornerstones of anti-skeptical argumentation: (1) the charge that the skeptic cannot consistently 'live his skepticism' (hereafter, the 'WnQpata argument'), and (2) the charge that the claims and argumentative practices of the skeptic involve him in 'self-refutation'. ' One of the few brands of skepticism in the history of philosophy to deny the &nQatia argument but accept and even embrace the charge of selfrefutation i…
Matthen on Castaneda and Plato's Treatment of Relational Statements in the Phaedo
In a recent discussion note, Mohan Matthen has offered a sketch of what he calls 'the beginnings of an adequate interpretation of Plato's treatment of the tall and the equal in the Phaedo. In doing so, Matthen agrees with Hector-Neri Castatteda that Plato had a theory of relational statements, but argues that the theory of relations Castafleda has attributed to Plato is an incorrect interpretation.2 In what follows, I will argue that Matthen's at…
Socratic Piety In The Euthyphro
Socratic Piety In The Euthyphro MARK L. McPHERRAN A PERSISTENT AND MUCH DEBATED issue in the interpretation of the Euthyphro is whether the dialogue is merely a peirastic inquiry or a source of positive Socratic doctrine on the nature of piety.' The majority of commentors favor the latter view and have produced various reconstructions of the positive Socratic doctrine of piety they find implicit in the text following the "aporetic interlude" (Eu.…
Plato’s Reply to the 'Worst Difficulty’ Argument of the Parmenides
Article Plato’s Reply to the 'Worst Difficulty’ Argument of the Parmenides: Sophist 248a — 249d was published on January 1, 1986 in the journal Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (volume 68, issue 3).
Socrates and the Duty to Philosophize
Skeptical Homeopathy and Self-refutation
There are two time-honored cornerstones of anti-skeptical argumentation: (1) the charge that the skeptic cannot consistently 'live his skepticism' (hereafter, the 'WnQpata argument'), and (2) the charge that the claims and argumentative practices of the skeptic involve him in 'self-refutation'. ' One of the few brands of skepticism in the history of philosophy to deny the &nQatia argument but accept and even embrace the charge of selfrefutation i…
Pyrrhonism's arguments against value
Socratic Reason and Socratic Revelation
Socratic Reason and Socratic Revelation MARK L. MCPHERRAN IN MANYLONGSTANDINGand influential interpretations of his views, Socrates is portrayed as a figure of our own Enlightenment: a consummate intellectualist, whose "paradoxical" view that "virtue is knowledge" grounds a moral theory that takes discursive rationality as our only trustworthy guide in life. This version of Socrates--as opposed to what I consider the more accurate one-has him con…
Socrates in the Apology
book is an excellent companion to Plato's Apology and a valuable discussion of many of the main issues that arise in the early dialogues. Reeve is an extremely careful reader of texts, and his familiarity with the legal and cultural background of Socrates' trial allows him to correct many common misunderstandings of that event. In addition, he integrates his reading of the apology with a sophisticated discussion of Socrates' philosophy. The writi…
Knowing the Theaetetus
The brief prologue of the Theaetetus begins with the end of a search, with Terpsion having tracked down Euclides in the streets of Megara, fresh from an encounter with Theaetetus, now homeward bound to Athens and his death. Euclides recounts that this encounter has reminded him of the long-dead Socrates and his ability to discern the talents of others in this case, Theaetetus himself.' He recalls in particular Socrates' retelling of a remarkable …
The Religion of Socrates
An Argument 'Too Strange'
The Religion of Socrates
Does Piety Pay? Socrates and Plato on Prayer and Sacrifice
Plato’s Apology offers a perennial challenge to its readers, prodding them to ask inter alia whether its Socrates is really guilty of the formal charge of impiety by failing to “recognize” the gods of Athens (Ap. 24b8-c1). If one turns to Xenophon for assistance in answering this question, however, the response will be an unequivocal “not guilty,” for as his portrait has it: “[Socrates] never said or did anything impious (asebes), and his speech …
Socrates, Crito, and their Debt to Asclepius
The Gods and Piety of Plato's Republic
Platonic Religion
Socratic Epagōgē and Socratic Induction
Aristotle holds that it was Socrates who first made frequent, systematic use of epagôgç in his elenctic investigations of various definitions of the virtues (Meta. 1078b7–32). Plato and Xenophon also target epagôgç as an innovative, distinguishing mark of Socratic methodology when they have Socrates' interlocutors complain that Socrates prattles on far too much about "his favorite topic" (Mem. 1.2.37)—blacksmiths, cobblers, cooks, physicians, and…
Plato's 'Republic'
Plato's Republic has proven to be of astounding influence and importance. Justly celebrated as Plato's central text, it brings together all of his prior works, unifying them into a comprehensive vision that is at once theological, philosophical, political and moral. The essays in this volume provide a picture of the most interesting aspects of the Republic, and address questions that continue to puzzle and provoke, such as: Does Plato succeed in …
Socratic Religion
Socrates is acknowledged to have been a moral philosopher of the first order: the founder of virtue ethics and the chief exponent of the Socratic Method (the elenctic method of question-and-answer cross-examination). It is, however, also common to underplay the idea that he was very much a man of his own time in respect of the supernatural, assuming in his speech and thought the existence of gods vastly superior to ourselves in power and wisdom, …
Music all pow'rful
In this chapter, the author argues for the centrality of music in Plato's conception of education in the Republic. It explores some of the key passages in Book 3 where Socrates explains the importance of music for fostering our capacity for philosophy and what sort of music is appropriate for training the city's guards and how musical mimesis works. The chapter considers why it is that poetry looms much larger than music in most accounts of the d…
Plato's divided soul
Plato's reason for introducing a tripartite soul into the Republic pertains to the overarching goals of that work: Plato wishes to establish the nature of justice and thereby to show why an individual might wish to be just rather than unjust. In saying that the soul had appeared to the interlocutors of the Republic to be composite, Plato is evidently alluding to the argument for the tripartition of the soul in Book 4 of the Republic. Plato's argu…
Degenerate regimes in Plato's Republic
This chapter concerns the negative end of the political argument of the Republic. According to the political philosophy presented in the Republic and the Laws, one's political standard ultimately determines the practical choices one makes about political institutions and laws. The political turmoil of the late fifth and early fourth centuries clearly lies in the background of Plato's Republic. The chapter overviews the system of degenerate regime…
Ethics and politics in Socrates' defense of justice
In the Republic, Socrates argues that justice ought to be valued both for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences. Scholars divide over the importance of politics in the Republic. This chapter argues that the account of the ideal city in Socrates' defense of justice plays the role of connecting justice as a structural condition of the soul and just behavior. It raises a worry that the defense is question-begging and show why it is not. …
Virtue, Luck, and Choice at the End of the Republic
Plato’s Rivalry with Medicine
Philosophy (25 works) · Classical Philosophy and Thought (23 works) · Epistemology (23 works) · SOCRATES (14 works) · Art (11 works) · Literature (11 works) · Theology (8 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (6 works) · The Republic (6 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (5 works)